External Links

This is considered to be the most complete list of links about pinball machines available anywhere.  If there are mistakes, or anything needs to be added, please Email us at

External Links

General Information

Mr. Pinball – Upcoming events. Classified. The site to go for current information.
Pinball News.com – Lots of pinball news.
PinGame Journal – Last issue we see is from 2021.  Still publishing?

Repair Information

Pinball Wiki – Launched as a replacement for the much loved Clay’s repair site, this has come a long way over the years and is excellent. 
PinballHQ.com – Maintained by Clay, this was the mother load of repair information for the advanced pinball repair. Much of it was removed in April of 2011. Portions have been restored since that date. Great EM repair information as well as restoration details.
Pinside.com – Lots of pinball information. Post repair questions here.
rec.games.pin – An old fashioned discussion group. Post your question starting with “Tech: [name of machine] [problem]”, then explain it in detail. Helpful people!  This has largely been abandoned now, but has a ton of information going back decades.
Mark’s Guide to Williams System 3 to System 7 SS board repair. Similar to Clay’s guide – great help for specific Williams pins.  As of 2023, the site seems to be offline.  Link is to WayBackMachine.
Tom Arnold’s Tips – [Unfortunately off line as of 2020 so the link is to WaybackMachine] Great not so common sense tips for pinball machine owners.
Flippers – Pinball basics, articles and information for everyone. Also contains information about pinball in Europe.
Switch Matrix Troubleshooting – [This website was taken down and its owner allowed us to host this information here.] A great introduction to switch matrixs used on SS pinball machines.
Mr. Pinball Repair Tip Archive – Lots of useful information.
Facebook Pinball Repair Advice – The smaller of the two groups, but the monitors seem to be a bit more relaxed here.
Facebook Pinball Repair Advice –  There is a lot of help here.
Parts Catalog – Planetary Pinball has posted lots of manuals to look up part numbers.
Repair Manuals and Documentation – A treasure trove of downloadable documents.
Game Specific Manuals – Manuals for different games. Download is helpful, but it is suggested to purchase an inexpensive copy from a parts supplier.
Repair Manuals – Mostly video, but a link to some pinball manuals.
Pinball Help.com – While there might be useful information on this site, but he is new and learning as he goes. There are mistakes and he admits that.
Old DE/Sega/Stern Service Bulletins – Stern updated their website and took down the old but needed info.
Old DE/Sega/Stern Service Bulletins – A second source of the old service bulletins. 

Specialized Repair Information

Introduction to Electronics – YouTube video instruction training starting with the basics.
How Flippers Work – A comprehensive explanation from Steve Kulpa – reproduced with his permission.
Upgrading WPC Speakers – Tony Dziedzic’s excellent guide on how to upgrade your Bally/Williams pin sound.
Chip Cross Reference – Maybe find a replacement for that obsolete part.
Gottlieb System 80 CPU Testing – Information specific to testing Gottlieb CPU board.
Coil Cross Reference – Extremely helpful information about pinball coils and cross references from Pinball Medic.
Resistance for Stern Pins – A PDF archive list of Stern coils, including some of the ones for some Data East / Sega pins. Offline as of 2018.
Resistance for Stern Pins – Web archive from Wayback Machine. List of Stern / Data East / Sega coils.
Resistance Chart for Coils – To test a coil, one needs to know the resistance. Note: 5R2 means 5.2 ohms.
Fuses – Information on the different types of fuses in a pinball machine.
Tech Sheets – Reproductions of those information sheets in the backbox.
Power Supply Theory – A description of how a power supply works from Pinpoint Electronics.
How a Bally Solenoid Driver Works – from Steve Kulpa, a great description.
CPUs Used in Pinball – [We could not get the original to load so try WaybackMachine.] Understanding Microprocessors in Pinball.
Resistor Color Chart – How to tell the value of a resistor.
Resistor Code – Interpret those ‘R’ codes plus 3 and 4 digit codes.
Identifying Capacitors – Information on common capacitors to identify replacements.
ASIC Reseating – Having problems with a Williams WPC reboot?
Pinball Links – Another link to other pinball links. Listing of owners and those who can help with specific games.

Learning to solder

How To Solder – TerryB’s great guide that he has allowed us to reproduce here.
Adafruit Guide To Excellent Soldering– Learning how to solder guide.  Start at tools needed if just starting out.
Learn how to create a good solder joint from expert Jeff Koskulics in this Howcast video.
How to Remove Solder – Learn how to remove solder from expert Jeff Koskulics in this Howcast video.

Restoration Guides – How To Bring A Pin Back From The Dead

PAPA – Perhaps the most detailed and complete pinball playfield restoration guide, sadly taken offline.  This is from the WayBackMachine.
PinballHQ.com – Maintained by Clay, this still includes detailed restoration guides.
Vid’s Guide to Playfield Restoration – Unfortunately on Pinside, which makes it hard to follow, but a great guide.  This was what used to be on PAPA.
Playfield painting help – From Cliffy, one of the experts on restoration.
Cliffy’s Pinball Restoration – Cliffy’s playfield protectors are legend. Here Cliffy outlines his restoration project.
Pinball Rehab – High end restoration. Use of airbrush with high quality paint. If you want top notch, start here.  This website was taken down, but, with the author’s permission, is now being hosted here.
Ed Cheung – Step by step restoration. Included making and applying spot playfield overlays.
The Pinball Fix – A Nicely Setup Guide for Restorations – from TheWayBackMachine.
Chuck’s Arcade – Tips on cleaning and flame polishing ramps. One page about swapping a playfield out.
Michel Oversteyns – pinball playfield restoration. Very nicely done.
Flippers.com – Backglass and playfield restoration information.
Backglass Restoration – Use decals to repair a backglass, by Alan Lewis.
Mike Minchew – Playfield restoration information.
Playfield Overlay – How to install a playfield overlay.
How To Create Decals – Make your own decals for drop targets or spinner.
Playfield Touchup With Decals – Don’t repair a playfield with paint. Make an overlay. Download archive.
Download a Photogrid – for photographing a playfield for making decals.
Download a Color Match – used for getting your printed colors to match the decal.
How to use the Color Match and Photogrid (above) – PDF archive of extremely helpful instructions.
How to remove plastic playfield inserts – You Tube Video.
Reproduce Playfield Plastics – How you can make your own playfield replacements.
Make your Own Playfield Plastics – A second “how to” article.
Make Playfield Plastics – A YouTube video on how to make plastics using decals.
Flame Polishing Ramps – How to remove that worn look on plastic ramps.
The Teardown – Step by step pictures on repairing pinball machines.
Treasure Cove – Playfield restoration guide.

Rivets – for targets, ramps, brackets, etc.

Installation Guide – Step by step using the Pinbits kit.
Pinbits Rivet Kit Pinrestore Rivet Supplies – Expensive tools, but worth it if doing many pins.
Tatco Hand Rivet Squeezer – Not specifically designed for pinball, but works for the small rivets.
Action Pinball – Rivet supplies and $200 hand tool.

Parts Suppliers

Steve Young’s Pinball Resource – Call for parts. No credit cards, but low prices. Licensed for Gottlieb parts. Large supply of hard to find parts. Prices are generally lower than most.
Pinball Life – Perhaps the lowest prices with a very good website. Great support.
Marco Specialties – Perhaps the largest selection of parts. A great website for parts shopping. Higher prices but great customer service.
Planetary Pinball – Bay Area Amusements has morphed into this.  Source of repro parts.
PinPCB – At last, replacement boards for Williams System 3 – 7 sound, power supply and other boards.
K’s Arcade – Closed in 2022
Pinball Inc. – Lots of parts included molded ones from original tooling.
The Pinball Wizard – Pinball parts supplier. Fairly easy to use website.
Mayfair Amusements – Seems like not as much here as there used to be.  Coils, translites, backglass….
Action Pinball – Supplies for machines.
Pinball Center – Pinball supplies for Europe.
Docent Electronics – This site is especially helpful for hard to find Gottlieb edge connectors, but also has other pinball parts.
HappControls – [No longer online as of 2014] A supplier of pinball parts. Sometimes have hard to find parts.
Spare Parts Australia – Hard to find parts. Ship around the world.
Big Daddy – “Specializing in pinball repair kits and pinball related electronics for Bally, Stern, Gottlieb and Williams.” Hard to find and obsolete chips and parts.
Mr. Pinball Classified Ads – While not a parts supplier, sometimes those hard to find parts can be found used, from collectors.
Pinball Heaven – UK parts supplier.
Boston Pinball Company – Specializing in Gottlieb repair parts and information.
Arcade Parts and Repair – A large selection of parts that maybe difficult to find

Circuit Board Parts / Electronics

Great Plains Electronics – GPE is the most comprehensive and lowest priced electronics supplier. Parts for circuit boards. Sadly, he closed in 2022.   Thanks for all of your help, Ed.  We miss you.
Pinball Electronics – A great NVRAM supplier.
Great Lakes Modular – New boards to replace those hard to find ones in SS pins.
Newark – Electronics Parts.
Jameco – Not specifically for pinball, more friendly to smaller order than Mouser.
Mouser Electronics – Complete catalog for circuit board parts.
Parts-Express – A more limited selection, but great for speakers and other electronics.
Global Sources – Replace those hard to find axial capacitors.
thatpinballplace – John Wart, Jr. is the best place to get EPROMs burned for your machine (sadly, the site closed 2017).
Pinball ROMs – Dave Astill is a long time EPROM supplier for pinballs.
Matts Basement Arcade – New EPROM supplier.
WPC EPROM jumpers – How to change the jumpers to accept larger EPROMs on WPC pins.
WPC EPROM jumpers – From Pinwiki.
Action Pinball – ROM chips for SS games.
Unicorn Electronics – For those hard to find and obsolete parts that even GPE may not have.
Arcade Chips – Another great source of those obsolete and hard to find ICs.
EPROM Burning – The Real Bob Roberts gives tips for burning EPROMs.
Pincoder Test ROMs – Get Pincoder ROM images and the Pincoder Adapter to test your Williams System 3-7 pinball machines.

Specialized Parts

Cliffy Protectors – Playfield protectors that cover up existing damage.
Ramp-O-Matic – Reproductions of pinball ramps.  Amazing place.
Mantis Amusements – Playfield protectors as well as other parts. Useful in newer playfields before they are damaged. Pinball Inc. – Pinball ramps and decals. Ramp manufacturing closed down in 2014.
Allteksystems – New and reproduced SS Circuit boards.
Rottendog Amusements – New and reproduced SS circuit boards.  Website offline in 2024.
GeeTech Electronics – Only supplier of Bally’s Squawk and Talk replacement boards.  Other cool stuff too.
Pinball Universe – Game specific parts, replacement circuit boards for Solid State (SS) games and more.
For Amusement Only – Game specific parts and reproductions.
Shay Arcade Group – Reproduction backglass and plastics. Amazing number of different ones, mostly EM 1940’s to 70’s.
Cabinet Stencils – High quality stencils to help paint your pinball cabinet and backbox / head.
BGresto – Restore and repair your backglass.
Absolute Pinball – Canadian pinball restoration.
BACKGLASSREPRINTS – Sold on eBay. Backglass reproductions. backglassreprints@yahoo.com
This Old Game – Screen Printed Reproductions and Fabrications of Coin-op Parts
Classic Playfield Reproductions – Reproduction of playfields and plastic sets.
Mirco Pinballs – Playfield reproductions and cabinet decals.
Starship Fantasy – Manufactures ramps. Carries reproductions of playfields, backglass, etc.
Phoenix Arcade – Cabinet artwork and playfield plastics.
Treasure Cove – Cabinet artwork.
Arcade Shop – As of 2022, they seem to no longer carry pinball artwork.
The Decal Factory – Make your own decals.
McGonigal Decals – Overlay supplies.
BelDecal – No longer online.
Decal Paper.com – No longer online.
ClassicArcades – Playfield Overlays
Pinball Controllers – Specialty board designed to give computer control over your pinball machine.
Pinball Plating – Plating and powdercoating of parts. Other restoration help.
Pinball Pal – Gottlieb System 1 and 80 score window color filter replacement.[Offline in 2013]
Flipper Fan – Some parts and repair tips. [Offline in 2013]
Machine Manuals – Download some machine manuals and circuit diagrams. [Service has been discontinued]
Illinois Pinball Company – the assets were acquired by Planetary Pinball Supply and Pinball Inc.
The Real Bob Roberts – Is Bob Roberts coming back?  We hope so.
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LED Replacement Bulbs – Make the game extra bright and easier on the circuitry

See our recommendations for LED’s
Pinball Life – Great supply of 3 LED bulbs for extra brightness. Their “warm white” LEDs are great replacements that look traditional.
CoinTaker.com – Great selection of LED’s.
Pinball Bulbs – What else, but LED’s for pinball machines.
LED OCD – Circuit boards that work on older games so that LEDs work better.
Comet Pinball – Large selection of various LED bulbs.
Also see the Parts Suppliers above (Steve Young, Marco, etc.)
BC’s Pinball Amusements – Specializing in kits for specific games. [Site offline in 2013]
Software Patch – An explanation of what causes ghosting in WPC pins and a link to the software patch

Replacement Displays

Wolffpac – Kit and assembled LED displays.
Pinscore – Replacement displays.
XPin – Replacement displays and boards.
Pinitech.com – Replacements.
Displays are also available from the larger parts companies such as Marco, Pinball Resource, etc.

Playfield Specific

Decorator Supply – Protect the playfield plastics from being broken.
House of Payne – Protect the playfield plastics from being broken and more. [Site offline in 2013]

Game Information

Internet Pinball Database – Complete and extremely useful. Manuals to download plus more.
Instruction Cards – Downloadable instruction cards for games. Lots of cards, but last updated in 2000.
Pinball Instruction & Score Cards – Replace the worn out instruction and price cards in your machine with these free versions. Many machines have custom cards for download.
Pinball Flyer Database – Many of the old flyers for pinball games. Great for photos to restore a machine.

Parts Lists

Williams/Bally Parts – look up part numbers of items in your pinball machine.
Parts Catalog – Planetary Pinball has posted lots of manuals to look up part numbers.

Get Your Machine Repaired

Flippers.com – Vancouver, Canada circuit board repair.
Fabulous Fantasies – CA located to get your machine repaired
Pinball Medic – Austin, TX
Lock When Lit – Repair and circuit board repair.[Website down 2013]
Coin-op Cauldron – Circuit board repair
Captain Neo – Playfield Restoration
High End Pins – Complete ‘remanufacturing’ of pinball machines
Home Arcade Repair – Game repair in and around New Fairfield, CT

Where to Play – Collections, Museums and more!

Pinball Locator – Find pinball machines to play in your local community.
Roanoke Pinball Museum – One of us happens to volunteer here. Non-profit. A great collection.
Pinball Map – Where to play pinball mostly west coast USA.
Pinball Hall of Fame – Las Vegas, NV
K&K Amusement – Kalamazoo, MI – we cannot find this playroom anymore.
Pinball Parlour – NW of Philadelphia, PA
Pinball Gallery – Downingtown, PA
Pacific Pinball Museum – San Francisco (Alameda), CA
Lyons Classic Pinball / Video – Lyons, CO
Ground Control Classic Arcade – downtown Portland, OR
Vintage Flipper World – Ann Arbor pinball museum. Clay’s own collection of over 200 pins
Pinball Circus – Hopkins, MN – Early April

Pinball Conventions

Pinball Expo – Chicago, IL late October. Granddaddy of them all.
Indisc Pinball Festival – A four day pinball arcade party usually in early January in CA.
Arcade Expo – Closed in 2021.
Ohio Pinball & Gameroom Festival – Akron, OH – March / April
Louisville Arcade Expo – Early March.
AMOA – Amusement Expo Las Vegas, NV – March. Not a true pinball expo.
Texas Pinball Convention – Grapevine, TX – March
Pittsburgh Match Play Championship – PAPA. Terrible news.  This great pinball show shut down in 2020.
Midwest Gaming Classic – Oconomowoc, WI – April.
Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown – Denver – mid-June.
Pinball at the Zoo – Kalamazoo, MI – mid April.
PinFest – Allentown, PA early May. Perhaps the best on the east coast? Friday and Saturday.
Pin A Go-Go – Dixon, California- Mid May.
Ann Arbor Pinball Museum Showcase – Mid-May in 2014. Clay is involved, so it must be great.
May Day Pinball Tournament – Hopkins, MN. No tournament since 2015.
German Pinball Open – Nuernberg, Germany – Late May.
NW Pinball and Gameroom Show – Seattle, WA – Early June.
Southern Fried Gameroom Expo – Atlanta – Early to mid-June
California Extreme – Santa Clara, California- July.
Pintastic New England – Late June to early July.
Replay FX – Pittsburgh. It is fabulous. “[M]ore than 750 arcade and pinball machines, over 2,000 retro console games, tabletop games” .
PAPA World Pinball Championship – Check site for dates.
Saratoga Pinball Show – Mid-August. First show was in 2017.
Kansas City Pinball and Arcade Show – Website is gone, but they have a Facebook page.
White Rose Gameroom Show – York, PA – mid-October. A nice show with more EM’s.

Other External links

Machine information

PinballNews.com – Current and late breaking news in the pinball machine world. Covers pinball machine conventions, shows and happenings around the world.
Pinball.org – Rule sheets for most modern titles.
Pinball.org/videos – Videos explaining how to play the most popular pinball machines and the tricks to get the most points.
ArcadeHistory – An alternative Pinballs database.
Library of promotion flyers for pinball machines.
47 Things You Need to Know About Your Pinball Machine – Good info. Some controversial. Use slightly abrasive Novus #2? Not according to this website.

Collections

Pinball Owners Browse private pinball collections from all around the world.
Penny arcade Impressive private collection of coin-operated mechanical games, including pinballs.

Pinball clubs

International Flippers Pinball Association (IFPA)
Professional/Amateur Pinball Association (PAPA)
Ithaca Pinball Club (NY)
Free State Pinball Association (MD,VA)
Bay Area Pinball Association (CA)
Swedish Pinball Association (SE) – Link broken.
Stockholm Pinball (SE)
Dutch Pinball Association (NL)
German Pinball Association (DE)
Brazilian Pinball Club (São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro)
Tokyo Pinball Organization (JAPAN)
Italian Pinball Association (ITALY)
Vancouver Regional Pinball Association (Canada)
Toronto Pinball League (Canada)

Pinball companies

Stern Pinball, Inc. Manufacturer of commercial pinball machines. Located just outside Chicago, IL
Jersey Jack Pinball – A startup that is on to their 4th pinball machine.
Chicago Gaming – Has licensed Williams designs from Planetary Pinball and is remakinig classic Williams games.
American Pinball – Shipping their Houdini pinball machine in 2018.
Spooky Pinball – Another new pinball manufacturer.
Homepin – A new pinball manufacturer with the factory in China.  Shipping their first in 2018.
Barrels of Fun – Shipped their first machine in 2023.
Dutch Pinball -A pinball manufacturer?
Multimorphic Pinball – A modular pinball system.
Heighway Pinball – And yet another new pinball manufacturer.  Link does not work as of Aug 2018.  Reports of insolvency.
DeepRoot – Not shipping games?  Legal issues?  Morphed into Turner Pinball?

Online Communities

Rec.Games.Pinball – the oldest and most active pinball discussion group on the Internet, also available via newsgroups distributed via NNTP.  Sadly not much recent activity.
Pinside.com – A newer discussion group that is moderated. Moderation keeps down the idiots but can be a bit heavy handed.
Pinball Galaxy –  Pinball discussion forums, classifieds, pinball locator, home of the Sunday night pinball chat.
Electromechanical Pinball Machines – a Yahoo group that specializes in EM pins.
Google Maps – A map of owners of pinball machines.
Facebook – several pinball communities on the platform.

Game Pricing Information

Boston Pinball eBay Results – Tabulated averages of sale prices of pins on eBay. A great reference, but with rising prices, these can be a bit low.
Pinpedia – Pinball Auction Results – Recent prices on auctions. Difficult to use since varied condition of the pins leads to wide variation in prices, but better than nothing.
Mr. Pinball Price Guide – What the going rate is to purchase a machine.
Pinball Prices – Sales Database.
Pinside – Search for the game by name. Estimated value is listed. Under ‘Market’, there is information about recent sales – prices may not be the sale price.

Other information

Pinballrankings.com – Official rankings system of pinball players throughout the world.

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